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Birmingham City Council Court Action To Ban Men From Meeting Girls

Birmingham City Council is taking a number of men to court to try to ban them from approaching girls in the city who they don't know.

Social services bosses in Birmingham say they are taking ``innovative'' legal action in a bid to protect vulnerable children who may be victims of sexual exploitation.

Birmingham City Council says it has launched civil court proceedings against a number of men with the aim of protecting youngsters who may not understand what is happening to them.

Officials say they have asked a family court judge to make orders barring a number of men from approaching girls with the support of West Midlands Police.

A lawyer representing the council outlined officials' thinking to a judge at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Mr Justice Keehan has been asked to make orders against a number of men after social workers and police raised concerns about the welfare of a vulnerable 17-year-old girl who is in the care of Birmingham City Council.

Last month Mr Justice Keehan imposed temporary orders against several men following the launch of the civil court litigation by social services bosses in Birmingham.

And he has been asked to consider making those orders - which bar the men from contacting, approaching or following the vulnerable teenager and from approaching ''any female under 18'', with whom they are not personally associated, in public places - long term.

He is scheduled to hear evidence relating to six men at a series of trials.